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Last Day of the 30 Day Challenge! 

Well, there you go. 30 consecutive days of blogging!

This 30-day blog challenge was a lot of fun for me, and there were definitely days that it was a *real challenge*. I wrote about a number of things--lots of literary topics and music posts. I even got a little bit personal with my posts about being awkward and sometimes feeling like crap as an artist. I even revealed to the world which 5 fictional characters whose fictional babies I would have. (Fictional babies: the only kind of babies I will EVER be having!)

Most importantly, though, this challenge kept me blogging for 30 days and it kept me thinking about what kind of content I want to post on my blogs. I acquired some new readers (hi!) because of some of these posts, I was more engaged with the online community as a whole, and it gave me a chance to practice what I preach, which is important to me--especially when I just released an e-book asking participants to write for 30 days

So thank you for following along with my 30 days of blogging! Below, I have included a list of all 30 days and links to the post for each day. (I split up my posts between this blog and my writing blog.) I have even bolded the best posts so for those of you who didn't get to read all of them, those are the best ones! 

Day 1 - Reconnecting with Music
Day 2 - Is There a Wrong Way to Cover a Song? 
Day 3 - Go Experience Some ART!
Day 4 - Empathy and Point of View – Stepping Outside of Your Cultural Identity as a Writer 
Day 5 - Being Comfortable With Being Awkward 
Day 6 - 5 Places That Make Marietta, Georgia Awesome
Day 7 - Celebrating Our Social Progress on MLK Day
Day 8 - To Self-Promote or Not To Self-Promote? Marketing Tips For Writers and Artists
Day 9 - Four Ways an English Degree Will Help You In Any Job
Day 10 - The Art of Doing Nothing
Day 11 - Thoughts on Self-Publishing: Where Do You Stand?
Day 12 - It's Effing Cold Mixy
Day 13 - Enthusiasm for Young Adult Literature
Day 14 - 5 of My Favorite Well-Written TV Shows
Day 15 - Things I Learned From My Parents
Day 16 - SnowJam 2014 - Grateful For All The Helpers
Day 17 - Cabin Fever Writing Prompts
Day 18 - 10 Signs You Are Meant To Be a Writer 
Day 19 - 5 Young Adult Books I Want To Read in 2014
Day 20 - stream of consciousness
Day 21 - Being an Artist Even When It Makes You Feel Like Crap 
Day 22 - Open Mic Night: Finding Your Voice
Day 23 - A List of Things I Could Write About
Day 24 - Why Do You Write?
Day 25 - My New E-book: The 30-Day Writing Challenge
Day 26 - My Top 5 Literary Crushes
Day 27 - 4 Blogs You Should Check Out
Day 28 - My 10 Favorite Songs (Currently)
Day 29 - The Ultimate Self-Promotional List of Art I Have Created So Far
Day 30 - Last Day of the 30 Day Challenge!

 

The Ultimate Self-Promotional List of Art I Have Created (So Far) 

30 day blog challenge - day 29

Alright, here is the ultimate self-promotional blog.

I tend to get a lot of comments like "I didn't know you had a poetry book!" and "Wait, you have a CD?" so I figured I'd talk about all of my projects to date on one blog post. And I needed something to blog about today. Why not make an artistic resume blog post?

Painted (play) - 2007
 

The Story: In 2006, I wrote a play for my undergraduate playwriting class at Kennesaw State University. In spite of MANY obstacles, I produced and directed a production of the play at The Art Place with the help of The KSU Underground  Theatre and Film Movement. It was one of the best experiences of my life, and I created the characters, Vincent and Izabella, who I am still writing about today.

Synopsis: In Los Angeles, California, the famous actor, Matthew Morris, lives with his sister, Amber Morris, a famous painter. Amber has been in the same room for ten years painting portraits of the muses she has created, Izabella and Vincent. Matthew brings over his friends Brandon Thompson, the beer-guzzling drummer of a famous pop-punk band, and a coke-sniffing stripper named Mercedes. When Brandon invites his lead singer, Ian Mason, over to Matthew's, Ian sneaks into Amber's room, and her world is completely shaken.

The Status Now: All in All Productions filmed the original production along with a short documentary about our experience putting it on. You can watch the documentary here, and I believe All in All Productions still has DVDs featuring the play, the documentary, and even commentary from myself and Rachel Marshall (which is pretty ridiculous and funny). 

The play has only been produced once so far. There was supposed to be a second production in Augusta a few years ago, but that didn't end up happening. The script is still available for productions.


Leapfrog (film) - 2009

The Story: I wrote a screenplay for a short film. Michael Tillman directed it, and we pulled together a tiny cast and crew. (Everyone was involved. I was the screenwriter, and I held lights in some scenes. We all helped where we could.) We had a blast making this film in the summer of 2008. It ended up being screened at a few film festivals, including the Macon Film and Video Festival, and it was featured on Atlanta Shorts on PBS. 

Synopsis: 
Cameron, a young man who has just graduated from high school, ditches a job interview his Dad set up for him to climb a mountain and write. While there, Lacey, his old best friend, calls him and they decide to spend the day together. Much to his dismay, he learns that she has drastically changed during her time away at college. They spend the afternoon catching up and things start to turn out okay, but then she takes him to a college party and his world comes crashing down around him. Leapfrog is a poignant look at the bittersweet pain of growing up, asking just how much we have to leave behind and what we can take with us.

The Status: I am no longer officially selling this film. (There is a bunch of music in the film that we never legally obtained the rights to. I was the Music Supervisor so I will take the fall for that one!) So I don't think it's a good idea to sell it. However, if anyone is interested in seeing it, I have a ton of copies. A scene from the film is also available here.

Unsent Letters (solo album) - 2009

 The Story: I had been writing and playing songs since 2004. In 2009, I decided it was finally time to record some of them. So I busted out my lap top, got my best microphones, and I made an album. It's very low fi, obviously, but I am still proud of it in many ways. It features songs like "Cyclone," "Rainwater," and of course the title track, "Unsent Letters." It has been featured on many internet radio stations and college radio stations. 

The Status: Well, I used a company to produce these CDs that has since gone out of business. Which means that it is only available in digital form on my website for now. (And I still have a few copies left.) I am hoping to re-release a re-mastered (or... you know, mastered for the first time!) version of this album that will then be available on Spotify and iTunes. For now, though, you can listen to it/download it on my music page.






Coiled and Swallowed (poetry book) - 2010

The Story: In 2009, I assembled a collection of my best poems, and submitted it to Virgogray Press. They decided to release it as a chapbook in 2010. It has since been reviewed by Black Heart Magazine.

Synopsis: Though Coiled and Swallowed by Sara Crawford begins with a poem anxious and questioning in “Spinning,” readers will find this collection of poetry by Sara Crawford to be honest and even light-hearted, a contrast represented dutifully by the second poem in the book, “Ode to Carpet.” As the book progresses we begin to see the personal and personable experiences whether in regards to love or excesses, adorations or musings; these poems seem to be questions and answers within themselves. 

The Status: I only have a few copies left of the original printing. I don't seem to be able to get anymore copies from Virgogray Press and the owner of that small publishing house has not been in touch with me when I have tried to contact him. I also didn't sign any contracts or anything so I am planning on doing a re-release of this one as well with photographs to accompany some of the poems. I will hopefully release this in print and e-book formats.





Pocket the Moon (album w/band) - 2011

 The Story: In 2010, I was in a project called Sara Crawford and the Cult Following. It was basically a backing band for my solo songs. When two of the members of that project left, it left Geoff and I to re-group and Pocket the Moon was formed. We collaborated to produce the self-titled album in summer of 2011. Geoff and I wrote all of the songs, played all of the instruments, and he recorded and mixed the album. This was an indie release to the max. With songs like "Rooftops," "Victoria," "Tangled," and "August," this album easily represents my best work as a musician and as a songwriter.

The album has since been played by many internet and college radio stations, and it has been featured in a few indie films. Geoff and I played all of my favorite Atlanta venues, and we even went on tour. We also made a music video for "Rooftops."

The Status: Pocket the Moon is available on iTunes, CD Baby, and Spotify. You can hear it in its entirety and download it (you name the price) at Bandcamp.





Driving Downtown to the Show (poetry book) - 2012

 The Story: Driving Downtown to the Show is a project that came out of a poetry writing workshop I took in my MFA Low Residency program at the University of New Orleans. Our professor, Bill Lavender, had us come up with a poetry writing procedure, consisting of rules that we would set for ourselves which would determine our writing schedules and content. We were to decide on a title before writing any poems, and the goal was to have a cohesive collection of poems by the time the semester was over. Because I was taking this class at a time when my main creative focus was my music career, I decided to use music as an inspiration for my procedure, particularly the Atlanta music scene.

The Status: This book is available for sale on my website and Lulu. I am hoping to release an e-book version soon.








The Snow Globe (play) - 2013

The Story: 
I started working on The Snow Globe, the play that would eventually become my thesis play, in Scotland the summer of 2012. I worked really hard on it all fall semester 2012 to make it good enough to argue that I deserved a Master's degree as a playwright. Luckily, I succeeded and finished my MFA in December 2012, thanks to this play. I then submitted it to YouthPlays, and it was published in 2013. 

The Synopsis: When a young girl, Tabatha, finds a snow globe in the woods, she soon discovers that a witch named Lavetta has enchanted the snow globe, created her own world inside with talking dolls, her snarky Cat, and an honorable crow. Tabatha enters the snow globe to find a neighborhood boy, Ethan, trapped inside. Together, they have to overcome obstacles to find a way out of the snow globe.

The Status: Although this play has not yet been produced, I am hoping that I will be able to self-produce it this year or next year. I am also hoping it will be picked up by other theatres. It is available via YouthPlays. I also made a video where I talked about my writing process with the play.




The 30-Day Writing Challenge: Begin or Enhance Your Daily Writing Habit (creative writing e-book) - 2014
 
 The Story: I literally just released this last week! It came out of some of the writing exercises and prompts I was writing for my writing blog. I was getting a lot of traffic from those, and people seemed to be enjoying them. People are also frequently asking me writing questions. So I have answered a number of them in this book. :-)

The Synopsis: The 30-Day Writing Challenge encourages beginner and advanced writers alike to stretch their writing muscles and create or enhance a daily writing habit. Each day, a new writing exercise/prompt is presented in an inventive collection that focuses on technique, inspiration, and craft by taking a comprehensive look across multiple forms and genres of writing.

The Status: The 30-Day Writing Challenge is available on e-book for $2.99 from Amazon










The Muses (young adult novel, part 1 of a trilogy) - 2015?

The Story: The Muses is a young adult novel I have been working on since fall 2012. In August 2013, the novel landed me a literary agent, who is in the long, arduous process of trying to secure me a book deal. The Muses is essentially a Painted spin-off, including Vincent, Izabella, and a few other characters from my original play. I have written a longer blog entry on my journey with The Muses if you are interested.

The Synopsis: 16-year-old musician, Sylvia Baker, has always been able to see Muses—mysterious beings who give artists inspiration—though they seem to be invisible to everyone else. After a near suicide attempt, Sylvia manages to climb out of the darkness of her mind by exploring her own musical abilities with the help of Travis, inspirational guitarist and classmate, and Vincent, the alluring British Muse who becomes Sylvia’s obsession. As she travels further into the world of these immortal beings that influence art, she finds herself in the middle of an epic battle between the modern Earthly Muses and the Original Greek Muses—some of which want her life. 

Set in suburban Atlanta in present day, Sylvia’s story is a journey of self-discovery told through the lens of a teenage girl finding herself through music and love. This Twilight meets The Perks of Being a Wallflower novel includes thought-provoking themes such as the purpose of art, the negative effects of alcohol and drugs, and crippling depression all while remaining true to the teenage experience with tales of love triangles, high school chorus concerts, and anxiety over driving.

The Status: I'm going to go ahead and be optimistic and say you can look for my book to be released by Scholastic in the fall of 2015! ;-)

My 10 Favorite Songs (Currently) 

30 day blog challenge - day 28



It's been a while since I've done a post like this.

Most of the time, I'm listening to new music these days. I try to keep new albums in the rotation. I like to listen to music that doesn't remind me of anything. But there are still songs that stick with me and have an affect on me - songs I can't shake. Here they are. 

(The majority of them would be considered "sad" by most of you. But I don't think they are.)

In no particular order:

Mayonaise - The Smashing Pumpkins



747 - Kent



Wait - M83



Sing for Absolution - Muse



No Surprises - Radiohead



Silver Soul - Beach House



There Is a Light That Never Goes Out - The Smiths



Hyperballad - Bjork




Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in space - Spiritualized



When the Sun Hits - Slowdive

My new e-book: The 30-Day Writing Challenge 

30 day blog challenge - day 25

Sara Crawford2  

The 30-Day Writing Challenge: Begin or Enhance Your Daily Writing Habit, my new creative writing e-book is now live on Amazon for only $2.99! If you are a writer or have ever wanted to try writing, this book is for you! Please check it out and share with friends.

The 30-Day Writing Challenge: Begin or Enhance Your Daily Writing Habit on Amazon

More info on the book: The 30-Day Writing Challenge encourages beginner and advanced writers alike to stretch their writing muscles and create or enhance a daily writing habit. Each day, a new writing exercise/prompt is presented in an inventive collection that focuses on technique, inspiration, and craft by taking a comprehensive look across multiple forms and genres of writing.

I use everything I have learned while getting my BA in English, my MFA in Creative Writing, my playwriting apprenticeship at Horizon Theatre, and my years of experience with writing, publishing, and producing my work. At the end of 30 days, you will have a much better idea of the type of writing you should be doing and how to write better than you've ever written before. :-)

Special thanks to Shaunnon Drake, Arlen Crawford, and Melanie Stephens for editing help and A.D. Sams for designing the cover.

A List of Things I Could Write About & Summing Up 30-Day Blog Challenge So Far 

scratchthehead
Alright, I have to admit that I am struggling with the blog challenge today. Coming up with an interesting blog topic 30 days in a row? Tough.

While I was trying to figure out what to write about today, here's a list of ideas I came up with:
1. Why do actors keep overdosing on heroin? (RIP PSH)
2. E-books or paper?
3. February is my least favorite month.
4. Dealing with change and how I think I've gotten better at it since I was a teenager, but probably not.
5. Are we all hypochondriacs in America?
6. I can't really spell without spell check.
7. Working out at the gym always makes me feel better.
8. The Vampire Diaries is my guilty pleasure teeny bopper show. (It's like Dawson's Creek with vampires. I mean, come on!)
9. Who are these people who are constantly saying ridiculously stupid things on Twitter? I don't know them. Do you?
10. My obsessive list-making habit: OCD or quirky?
11. Getting nostalgic for things that happened, like, two months ago.
12. I wish all of winter would be a snowpocalypse and Atlanta would remain shut down for the whole winter and then when the snow melted and it got warm outside we could all emerge and get back to real life.
13. Who are these guys that hit on girls at the gas station? When has that ever worked? "Oh, let me tell you kids about when I met your grandfather at the Chevron. It was love at first sight!"
14. I thought I might make a list of all of the blogs I've done so far and maybe that would count as an entry.
15. I have seen all of the episodes of Friends so many time that I have an appropriate Friends quote for nearly every situation.

Alright, well. I may as well make a list of the blog entries I've done so far.

Day 1 - Reconnecting with Music
Day 2 - Is There a Wrong Way to Cover a Song? *
Day 3 - Go Experience Some ART!
Day 4 - Empathy and Point of View – Stepping Outside of Your Cultural Identity as a Writer 
Day 5 - Being Comfortable With Being Awkward *
Day 6 - 5 Places That Make Marietta, Georgia Awesome
Day 7 - Celebrating Our Social Progress on MLK Day
Day 8 - To Self-Promote or Not To Self-Promote? Marketing Tips For Writers and Artists
Day 9 - Four Ways an English Degree Will Help You In Any Job
Day 10 - The Art of Doing Nothing
Day 11 - Thoughts on Self-Publishing: Where Do You Stand?
Day 12 - It's Effing Cold Mixy
Day 13 - Enthusiasm for Young Adult Literature
Day 14 - 5 of My Favorite Well-Written TV Shows
Day 15 - Things I Learned From My Parents
Day 16 - SnowJam 2014 - Grateful For All The Helpers
Day 17 - Cabin Fever Writing Prompts
Day 18 - 10 Signs You Are Meant To Be a Writer *
Day 19 - 5 Young Adult Books I Want To Read in 2014
Day 20 - stream of consciousness
Day 21 - Being an Artist Even When It Makes You Feel Like Crap *
Day 22 - Open Mic Night: Finding Your Voice
Day 23 - A List of Things I Could Write About

* These are my favorites so far.

​Open Mic Night: Finding Your Voice 

30 day blog challenge - day 22

I love open mic nights.

When I was first getting started as a musician, open mic nights gave me a place to get some experience performing, which was great. They also gave me a place to meet other artists. And I found that every time I went to an open mic night, I left feeling inspired, often with ideas for poems and songs. 

I started hosting open mic night at my favorite coffee shop, Cool Beans, in early 2012, and they were SO much fun. We had some really cool moments there. And when I heard stories from artists who had NEVER performed before, I really felt like I was giving people the opportunity to explore their art and gain performance experience, and that made me feel good. Like I was passing the open mic night torch.

I have started hosting open mic night again at Unity North, my church. So far, I've only hosted one, and it was a great experience with a wide variety of acts. (It also gave me a chance to play some of my songs--something I hadn't done in nearly a year.) As I am gearing up for the February open mic night there, I was just thinking about how appropriate it is to have open mic night at Unity.

So many of the talks on Sunday mornings at Unity are about finding your voice and expressing whatever it is about you that needs to be expressed. Open mic night is the perfect manifestation of this idea of self-expression. I am so grateful to have a loving, open, and accepting community where everyone is encouraged to speak their truths, and my open mic night feels like a nice way to give back--even if just a little. :-)

February's open mic night will be on Friday, February 28th at 7:30 (come at 7:00 pm to sign up). Unity North is located at 4255 Sandy Plains Rd, Marietta, GA 30066. The event will be free with a suggested $5 donation that goes to Unity North. And this month, we will also be raising money for the new Family Promise ministry. Family Promise is an organization of volunteers that help homeless and low-income families achieve lasting independence.

I hope those of you in the Atlanta area will join us for open mic this month. :-)

Being an Artist Even When It Makes You Feel Like Crap 

30 day blog challenge - day 21
Almost every artist I know goes through an almost cycle of mood swings. We all have seasons.

There are times when it feels like we are totally rockin'. When we get standing ovations or it's 3 am and we've just finished that last round of revisions on the novel or we're singing our hearts out in our apartments or someone says "I heard your band on college radio and I had to come see you play!" or someone else says, "your play made me cry," or when we get a fat check or sell a bunch of CDs or when we just feel like artists

Then there are times when we play shows for 2 people or when we get rejection letter after rejection letter or when we have to sit through a half-hour talk back where every person in the audience tells us how much our play sucked or when not even our own playwriting professor wants to produce our plays or when some pretentious asshole guy tells us our poems are too "didactic" or when we go in crazy debt to get degrees we can never practically use for employment or when we just feel like artists

I go through these ups and downs so often as an artist, I'm sure it drives everyone who knows me insane. I was having a "down" day today, and then I thought I would turn it around and write a blog for my fellow artists. 

So what do you do when you're having a "down" day? When you can't figure out why the hell you are still writing or singing or acting or painting or creating art? When you just feel like giving up? 

Allow yourself the meltdowns.

There is no easy answer for this. It's not going to magically go away. Let yourself have a good cry and write down all of the reasons you hate life in your journal. Half of the time, when I'm feeling down, if I just let myself write out all of the bad thoughts--even though I know half of them have no basis in reality and are probably not true at all--I will almost always feel better. So have some ice cream. Listen to Morrissey. Give yourself 20 minutes to cry and write and cry again. And then take a deep breath and remember why all of the things you wrote in your journal aren't true.

Just keep swimming. 

Once you've had your meltdown and taken a deep breath, all you can do is just keep doing what you're doing. Just keep writing. Keep singing. Keep painting. Keep creating. Don't let anyone get you down, don't let anyone convince you to stop, and above all, to thine own self be true. You are an artist. This is what you know, this is what you do, and this is what you are.

You're going to do it anyway.

Even if no one ever wants to hear your songs, are you really going to stop singing them? Even if you keep getting rejected, are you really going to stop writing? There is always someone who will appreciate your art. You will always have a reason to create art. And if it really is in you, you will keep doing it in spite of what anyone says or how miserable it sometimes makes you. Because at the end of the day, you are an artist.

So chin up. 

(And I'm writing this blog to myself more so than anyone else.)

SnowJam 2014 - Grateful For All The Helpers 

30 day blog challenge - day 16

Photo from the AJC

As most of you probably know by now, the entire metro Atlanta area is experiencing a Snow Jam. It's snowmageddon out there. Now, it's true that we only got 2.6" of snow yesterday, which may seem like nothing to you Northerners. However, let's also keep in mind that we pretty much have NO preparations in place to deal with this in Atlanta because it doesn't happen often enough for it to make financial sense for us to invest in these things. Also, yesterday morning, everything was normal so many people went to their jobs. School wasn't cancelled either. (There was, however, snow in the forecast, but no one was predicting it would be this bad.)

When the snow started coming down and roads started icing over yesterday afternoon, everyone left work and school at the same time. This resulted in many vehicles not being able to get around on the icy roads and other major highways and roads being completely JAMMED UP with traffic and stalled vehicles for HOURS. I have heard horror stories of people taking 8, 10, even 16 hours to get home in commutes that typically take 30 minutes to an hour. My dad was one of the lucky ones. His commute usually takes him around an hour with normal rush hour traffic, and he got home in 4 hours. I was even luckier in that yesterday happened to be one of my freelance from home days. (I have a "day job" three days a week, and the other two days, I do freelance work.) 

After hearing all of the horror stories of people who were stranded at gas stations or grocery stores all night, students and teachers who were stranded at schools where busses were unable to take them home, and motorists stuck in their cars in the traffic ALL NIGHT (some of which are STILL on the road), I couldn't help but be grateful for the fact that I was safe in my parents' house with my parents, my brother, and my cats. As I was scrolling through my social media, I also couldn't help but be touched by all of the stories I was seeing.

Nearly everyone on my friends page was offering their home as shelter to those who were stranded near them. My church, Unity North, was open to motorists, and they were serving coffee, food, and giving people a place to wait it out. My dad told me how people were all helping each other push vehicles so they could get past the hills. There were even people in our neighborhood going door to door collecting hot chocolate and other helpful items to give to stranded drivers. 

So I just wanted to take a second to write about my gratitude. I am grateful to live in a city where people are willing to help each other. (Although, I think that people in any city would have done the same. You always hear these types of stories in situations like these.) And to anyone still stranded, I hope that you eventually get home safely! Hopefully, next time this happens, we will err on the side of caution and not expect our students and employees to go to work and school!

Things I Learned From My Parents 

30 day blog challenge - day 15

Well, I have officially made it to the halfway point in my self-imposed 30 day blog challenge. Go me!

I do have to say that posting fresh content every day either here or on my writing blog has been a good thing for me. I have been attracting more readers and more web traffic. So thank you for reading!!

A friend of mine is now doing a similar writing/blogging challenge and posted some prompts today for the other participants. I decided to get a little personal (something I don't normally do on my blog here) and write a post today answering one of my friend's prompt questions:

What positive, useful thing did you learn from your parent(s)/caretaker(s)?

Me, my parents, my brothers, and my younger brother's girlfriend at Christmas

My family is pretty close. When I hear about some of my friends who talk to their parents or siblings "every now and then," I realize just how close we are. We all speak on a regular basis--my parents and my two brothers--and I see them at least once a week. (They were kind enough to let me and my cats crash on the couch during the current Atlanta "snowmageddon" we are having because the space heaters in my bohemian apartment just don't cut it when it gets below 30 degrees. So I am actually writing this blog post from their dining room table.)

What positive, useful thing have I learned from my parents? 

Well, there are really too many to list, but I will discuss three of the most important things.

My parents taught me to always go for my dreams.

When I was a kid, my parents encouraged both me and my brothers to participate in different types of activities, and they gave us multiple opportunities to do so. Once we each zoned in on our unique interests, though, they allowed us to pursue them freely. They gave me the opportunity to take dance classes, participate in theatre, sing with in the choir at church and the school chorus, etc. And they came to every dance recital, every chorus performance, and basically everything I ever did. (This trend has continued to this day, even when my band was playing in dive bars like Lenny's or I was in Hedwig and the Angry Inch in Augusta, Georgia, which is roughly four hours away.) When I told them I wanted to be an English major in college and when I told them I wanted to go to grad school to get an MFA in creative writing, they encouraged me and supported me. They believe in me as a writer, and they have given me countless opportunities that have made me the artist that I am today.

My parents gave me a love for the arts.

My parents are as obsessive and geeky about books/movies/TV shows/music/etc. as I am. They have always been this way, and that's obviously where I get it from. Sometimes, we obsess over the same things (like when we all geek out and watch a million episodes of Game of Thrones in a row). Sometimes, we obsess over different things. But my dad will listen to the same song over and over again on repeat because he loves it so much, and my mom has re-read the same books over and over again because she loves them so much. My obsessive geekiness is a huge part of who I am, and I either inherited or learned that from my parents. (Maybe a little of both.)

My parents taught me how to love.

We are all vastly different people in my family, but we all appreciate and respect each other as individuals. We can always be open and honest about our thoughts and opinions and what's going on in our lives, and we still love each other. I think I am a caring and loving person, and there is no doubt that that comes from my parents. My parents have been together for 34 years, and they gave me a great example of love to look up to. My parents are the most selfless and loving people that I know, and there is nothing they wouldn't do for their friends and family.

Not only have I learned many positive and useful things from my parents, but I am incredibly grateful to have such wonderful parents and to be part of such a great family.










It's Effing Cold Mixy 

30 day blog challenge - day 12



I thought I would share my "It's Effing Cold Mixy" with you today.

I like to make mix CDs (or playlists) that I call "mixies." I make these for different moods, for different writing projects, and of course for different seasons. I always make a "Scent of Autumn" mixy every year. We've been having a REALLY COLD winter here in Georgia (as most of the US has, I'm sure), and this inspired me to make a mixy called "It's Effing Cold." 

These are all songs that make me think of winter or being cold. Enjoy!

1. Winter - Tori Amos This is pretty self-explanatory.
2. Tether - CHVRCHES There is just something about the way her spacey vocals float over the guitar that makes me think of really cold, grey days.
3. Bored Games - Wild Nothing Okay, ever since I saw these guys put on one of the WORST shows I have ever seen, I haven't listened to them much. But this song still reminds me of the Snowpocalypse of 2011 so I had to put it on here.
4. The North - Stars It's so cold in this country. You can never get warm.
5. My Plants Are Dead - Blonde Redhead This is another one that makes me think of winter because I listened to it so much in the winter of 2010/2011.
6. Frosti - Bjork You can almost just see the snowflakes dancing when you close your eyes.
7. In the Hearts of Men - First Aid Kit This song is melancholy in a way that winter is melancholy for me.
8. In the Pines - Widowspeak This song reminds me of the cabin fever boredom feeling you get when you have been inside so long because it's EFFING COLD.
9. Open Waters - Moonlight Bride This song just sounds like winter.
10. The Sound of Silence - Simon and Garfunkel I thought of going outside when it snows and it's so quiet, you can hear everything. The sound of silence.
11. No Surprises - Antoine Coercy (Radiohead cover) This instrumental version of my favorite Radiohead song is quiet and somber and makes me think of drinking hot chocolate and falling asleep in front of the fire.
12. Child I Will Hurt You - Crystal Castles I think this song is beautiful, and it also sounds like winter.
13. Bluer Than Midnight - The The A great soulful ballad to warm your melancholy winter night.

Spotify playlist
Youtube playlist (this one's a little different because not all of these versions were on YouTube)

The Art of Doing Nothing 

30 day blog challenge - day 10



I spent the majority of my time from 2003 to 2012 being BUSY AS HELL. I was almost always in school of some kind, working a job of some kind, and involved in some artistic project of some kind whether it was being in a band, making a film, producing a play, acting in a play, writing plays or poems or novels, or whatever other project I thought up. Sometimes I was participating in more than one artistic project at once! If I dated people during this time, it was usually someone who was either involved in school or the artistic projects with me. (Otherwise, how would I ever see them?)

There were a few breaks in between there where I was less productive, but I never really had a lot of "free time." At one point senior year of college, I had five classes, I was working a part-time job, I was doing an internship two days a week, AND I was writing plays on top of that. 

Needless to say, when I graduated from grad school in December 2012, I wasn't really sure what to do with having so much "free time." I was still working a full-time job, but that wasn't enough apparently. So I participated in a musical. When that was over, though, it took me a long time to get used to having time to just do nothing. 

At first, I would feel guilty any time I was just sitting around in my pajamas watching Friends episodes on DVD (all of which I have seen 900 times). But I have since discovered that taking the time to rest and "do nothing" is essential. Especially for creative people. Often, if I am stuck on a scene I'm writing, I usually have some epiphany about it following a day of sleeping and eating ice cream and then sleeping some more and then watching Top Chef.

Your body needs inactive periods to survive (i.e. sleep). Your mind does, too. Sometimes you need to watch mindless television. There's a reason it's called mindless, but it gives your mind a break, which can be entirely productive in the long run. Sure, there are healthier ways to give your mind a break like meditation or exercise or being in nature, but whatever it is, make sure you take the time to rest and relax. You can't be creative if you are constantly busy and/or stressing yourself out. 

So don't feel bad about doing nothing. You don't want to let it get out of hand and be stagnant or apathetic, but only you can know how much time you need to rest and re-charge your batteries. 

Now excuse me while I go sit around and make up songs about my cats.

Celebrating Our Social Progress on MLK day 

30 day blog challenge - day 7



On this day we celebrate the life of Martin Luther King, Jr. and I thought it would be appropriate to write about gratitude for how far we have come.

There are so many activists who focus mainly on the problems of racism, sexism, homophobia, social injustice, etc. that still exist in this country. I definitely think we still have a ways to go to be an equalist society, and we need to stand up and fight for these issues. However, in focusing so much on the injustice in the world, we often forget how far we have come.

I look at our country and I see a nation that is wonderfully diverse, arguably the most diverse nation in the world. I look around and I see the freedom to have political arguments on Facebook. I see many states finally taking a stand for marriage equality. 

I am grateful to live in a country where I can work and write and have tattoos and drive and vote and I don't have to cover myself or have a male chaperone at all times. I am grateful to live in a country of abundance. I am grateful to attend a church that focuses on the unity of all people of all different religions, races, nationalities, genders, sexual orientations, ages, etc. etc. 

Yes, there is still a long way to go, and there is still much work to be done, especially in other parts of the world that haven't come as far as we have. But I think as we are fighting for equality, we should also stop and be grateful for the changes we have made, the success we have seen, the difference we have made. Just as we celebrate the life of a remarkable man who made such a difference in the fight for equality, we should also take a moment to celebrate the positive changes we have made as a society.

5 Places That Make Marietta, Georgia Awesome 

30 day blog challenge - day 6

I don't talk much about where I live much so I decided to rectify that today.

I live in a suburb of Atlanta, Georgia called Marietta. I grew up in Kennesaw, the suburb that is right next to Marietta, and I've basically lived in this north-of-Atlanta suburban area my entire life. 

In Atlanta, there is a perimeter (285) that divides the metro area into "ITP" (inside the perimeter) and "OTP" (outside the perimeter). There are a lot of what I call "ITP snobs" (i.e. people who grew up in the suburbs, moved downtown when they turned 22 or whatever, and now act like they are way too cool for school) who constantly criticize everything outside the perimeter saying that all we have are Wal-Marts and Taco Bells, etc. etc. 

I disagree, though. I moved to "downtown Marietta" about a year ago, and I love living in Marietta. There are a lot of really cool places within walking distance of me, and I thought I'd write about some of my favorites:

The Strand Theater 



This 1935 Art Deco theater was a music venue when I was a teenager, but then it closed down for almost a decade. It was renovated and reopened in 2009, and since then, I have seen many cool movies, plays, and bands in this awesome theater. They even have Brew with a View on the roof with live music and drinks when it's warmer. I played a Brew with a View with my band, Pocket the Moon, and I also hosted my Driving Downtown to the Show poetry book release party there. We also used the rooftop as the setting for our "Rooftops" video in Pocket the Moon. Needless to say, I have an artistic connection with this place. 

Marietta Pizza Company



I would argue the pizza from MPC is some of the best pizza in the metro Atlanta area. Aaammmaaazinnng. The atmosphere is great, the people who work there are friendly and offer great service, and did I mention the AMAZING pizza?

Miss Mamie's Cupcakes


THESE CUPCAKES. GUYS. FOR REAL.

MacCrackens



This Celtic pub is always a great time. They host talented musicians on the weekends including many of my favorite songwriter friends. They used to have one of my favorite open mic nights in town. (Sadly, that is no more.) They have a really cool back patio area with a bonfire! They feature a divey side of the bar and a classier non-smoking side so you will have a great time no matter what kind of evening you're seeking.

Cool Beans



Anyone who has known me at all in the last 10 years will tell you that I love Cool Beans. I am a Cool Beans regular. When I only worked from home, I used to go to Cool Beans every single day to do my work, and it has played a major role in my studies (both undergrad and graduate scool). I have written the majority of most of my plays and the majority of my novel at Cool Beans, and the coffee shop is featured in a number of my poems. They roast their own coffee, and it's DELICIOUS. (WAY better than Starbucks!) The outside patio area is probably the best place to hang out in Marietta. 

I also have sentimental connections to Cool Beans as I played my very first acoustic show there as a solo musician, I have played shows there with most of my bands, I used to host open mic night there, and many of my friends have worked there.


So there you go. Five reasons to hang out in Marietta.

Being Comfortable with Being Awkward  

30 day blog challenge - day 5

What?

I'm a self-proclaimed awkward person.

I have always been an awkward person. Maybe it's because I'm naturally a very shy, introverted person, but I often put myself in situations that require me to be extroverted (performing, experiencing new art, trying new things, etc.) If you have ever seen one of my shows, you will know what I mean by my ridiculous stage banter. When I am on stage, basically anything could come out of my mouth. You just don't know. Sometimes I don't even know what the hell I'm saying on stage. 

I'm also awkward because I have balance problems that cause me to do things like fall off of stationary motorcycles and stumble into walls and trip over things. I drop stuff all of the time, I'm clumsy, I often don't know what to do with my hands, I often feel extremely uncomfortable around new people, and sometimes my brain makes turning thoughts into verbally spoken words slightly impossible unless I'm given time to write it down first or I am talking to someone I know extremely well. Whenever I dance, it's weird and asymmetrical. I never know what to do in photographs which is why only the most talented photographers or people who know me really well ever take decent pictures of me and why I'm always making this face:

Prose before hos!

So, yeah. I'm awkward. 

But you know what? A lot of people are awkward. And over the years, I have somehow learned to be comfortable with my awkwardness. 

This may sound like a contradiction, but I don't think that it is. Being comfortable with your awkwardness means being able to laugh at yourself when you say something really dumb. Being comfortable with your awkwardness means being able to turn tripping and almost falling into a dance. Being comfortable with your awkwardness means being true to yourself. 

Because everyone has moments of insecurity and uncertainty and people who are "awkward" aren't afraid to be honest about that. There are some people who always seem so graceful, so confident. These people seem to handle every situation flawlessly, to always say the perfect things, to always look the perfect way. This is an illusion. Many times, these people are overcompensating for their own insecurities. Often, these overly confident people are actually more insecure than people who don't seem as confident. 

I'm happy all of the time!

And it is possible to be awkward and confident at the same time. Look at Ellen. Her entire stand-up routine is basically about being awkward, but she clearly does what she does with confidence, self-love, and love for others. 

I'm Ellen!
(Ellen is sort of my hero.) 

So, to my awkward sisters and brothers, I salute you. And I say embrace your awkwardness. Stand up and fall down and laugh and stand up again and say, "Well, you know."  

Is There a Wrong Way to Cover a Song? 

30 day blog challenge - Day 2



People are always telling me how I should and shouldn't be covering songs. "Well, in the original, the chords are actually different than the ones you're playing." "Actually, he never sang that line that way in the original." "Oh, well the vocal phrasing should be different there." Etc. etc. (Oh, and don't get me started on the brilliant criticism from the skilled virtuosos that are YouTube commenters.) 

I know some people want to basically hear "Freebird" exactly the way Lynyrd Skynyrd plays it when that cover band starts up at the bar. I, however, do not. If I did, I could just stay home and turn the record on. Because no one is going to do Skynyrd the way that Skynyrd does Skynyrd. So why would you try to do a cover exactly the same as an original? You are probably not Bob Dylan or Tom Petty or Kurt Cobain. (If you are, please tell me how you came across my blog!) So why not make it your own? 

I think the great thing about cover songs is that you can take a song you love and re-interpret it or re-discover it in a way that only YOU can. Turn it into a different experience for the listener. All of my favorite covers do this. Tori Amos took "Smells Like Teen Spirit" and COMPLETELY reinterpreted it. Jonny Cash gave "Hurt" a completely new meaning. Laura Jansen made me like a Kings of Leon song. Oh, and the Jimmy Fallon doing Neil Young covering Willow Smith's "Whip My Hair" with Bruce Springsteen not only cracks me up but is actually (in my opinion) an amazing cover.

So next time you leave a comment on someone's YouTube covers, just tell them the truth, which is really only one of two things. "I like this interpretation" or "I don't like this interpretation." Not "you're doing the song wrong." Because, really, there is no wrong way to cover a song.

I will leave you with my oh-so-controversial cover of Florence and the Machine's "Shake it Out" which inspired such YouTube comments as "You have a lovely voice, though not for Florence and the Machine. I'd suggest Norah Jones," "you have a very pretty voice :) I would have liked it to be a little quicker. it seemed really slow, and boring almost. you're voice sounds like it'd work well with country songs. just a suggestion(:," and of course, the brilliant advice, "you have a nice voice but its like your off toon or something with a little practice or something i think it would be better."

 

30 Day Blog Challenge - Day 1 - Re-connecting With Music 

I like the idea of the 30-day whatever challenge. Remember those 30-day music challenges that were going around a few years ago on Facebook? Every day you had to post a song. Then there's the 30-day poetry challenge, which I have been participating in every year since it started in 2011, but I only actually wrote 30 poems last year. (The first two years, I gave up around day 5 or 6, I think.) Once, I decided for 30 days, I would have to submit something a poem, story, song, etc. for publicaition every day and post about it on my Livejournal (yes, I still have a Livejournal. I've had it since 2001!). These challenges actually force me to quit talking and do some of the things I'm always talking about. I'd like to be more active in the blogosphere so I decided that I would post a blog every day for the next 30 days. (I will split up the blogs between my personal blog, here. and my writing blog so that I don't post a lot of stuff that's not writing related on my writing blog.)

Anyway. So today, I'd like to write about how I've reconnected with my love of music.



Many of you may have read my little "I'm giving up music" post that I wrote last June. In it, I said that I was taking an indefinite break from music to pursue my writing career. While this was true, the part that I didn't really expand on was that I was just burnt out with music. I had gotten to a point where I felt incredibly disconnected from my songs and from my audience. I felt like no one wanted to hear my music, no one cared about my songs, my songs were too sad, etc. etc. And the thought of playing my music in front of people again filled me with so much anxiety. I just couldn't do it anymore. 

Honestly, I was feeling pretty depressed about it. I just didn't want to sing anymore. Because it made me think of how I essentially failed at music. (Or at least, that's how I saw it.) 

Ironically, I poured all of my energy into my novel, The Muses, which is all about music. Sylvia (the protagonist) is a musician, her father is a musician, her boyfriend is a musician. She is obsessed with music and music shapes how she sees much of the world. So I was taking a break from music, and yet, I wasn't at all. Because music is as much a part of me as it is Sylvia (that aspect of the novel is very autobiographical). 

But it wasn't really writing about music that made me re-discover my own voice as a musician. A couple of days ago, I sang in a women's trio at my spiritual home, Unity North Atlanta. I often sing in the worship team there, which is always fun, but something was different this time. I also started going to ukulele class at Unity and learning to play the uke, which led to my friend, Julie (the worship team leader at Unity) and me to write a chant called "God is Here" on our ukuleles. We performed it before service on Sunday, and it was so much fun. Then, we sang two songs in our women's trio with some really fun harmonies, and I was feeling so joyful the whole service. 

I'm not sure if it was playing a new instrument, writing a fun chant, singing complex harmonies with two incredibly talented singers, or my determination to be more positive in 2014, but I am feeling good about singing again, about playing music. And when I was singing on Sunday, it was just about the joy of singing, connecting with the audience, and expressing something bigger than myself through music... which is what singing used to be about for me. I feel like I was missing that for a while, but it has come back. 

One of the songs we sang on Sunday was "I Won't Give Up" by Jason Mraz. While the song is typically interpreted to be about a romantic relationship, Julie remarked that for her, it was about not giving up on her inner child... not giving up on herself. For me, as I was singing, I found myself thinking about not giving up on myself as a musician--on myself as an artist.

One of the joys of being an artist/musician/writer, though, for me is how amazing it is when my attitude towards art changes--when I learn something or grow as artist and how that often leads to my growth as a person. But then, I'm not sure how to separate the two. Sara, the person and Sara, the artist are one in the same.

Well, I guarantee you not all of my blogs for the next 30 days will be this long or this deep, but I thought it was a good way to start. I will leave you with a poem from my collection of poems, Driving Downtown to the Show (2012). This poem is a demonstration of not only my love for music but my love for writing about music.

Ghost Party

What are you doing Saturday night?
Cancel your plans!
You need to go to the abandoned
house on North Booth Road
for the ghost party.
It starts around 10,
I heard about it from Sherman after the Bitter End show.
Bring your own booze.

Janis will pull a harpoon
out of her dirty red bandanna.
Jim will show you
the way to the next
whiskey bar - don't ask why.
John will take you down
when he's going to
strawberry fields. Jimi will give you
that purple haze - all in your brain.
George will be there, too, while
his guitar gently weeps.
Johnny will be there, but he'll
still miss someone. Freddy
will tell you that nothing really matters. (Anyone
can see.) Sid will try to start
anarchy in the UK.
Michael will be avoiding
Billie Jean who can't stop
telling everyone he's the one.
Bob will be jammin' of course.
(I hope you like jammin' too.)
Kurt will get so high, he'll scratch
til he bleeds.
And Jeff will whisper to you his last
goodbye.